Friday, July 4, 2025

It is the 4th of July 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

It is not for this show to compile a list of the funniest or strangest hymns that have perhaps not aged as well as others… sometimes it’s because the lowly donkey is being referenced, and it’s using older language. Sometimes words change meaning. I read of one hymn called “I Find Christ Adequate,” which means “sufficient,” but you get the idea. Sometimes hymns and Anthems have a weird history- National Anthems weren’t the first kind- Church Anthems were (Anthem comes from the word ‘antiphon’- it’s a verse response sung in alternate parts).

The British have a curious history with national and theological anthems, and both… “I Vow to Thee, My Country” is, well… Or the Germans who had made a Haydn tune- “Deutschlandlied” (this is the “Deutschland Uber Alles” one) and the tune was used in American churches to the words of the Hymn We Are Called to be God’s People… as we know from thousands of episodes of this show and elsewhere… church and state stuff can get weird… anyways, happy 4th of July- let me tell you the story of another peculiar (and good!) An anthem/hymn that was published on this, the 4th of July in 1895. And for good measure, maybe up there with some Schoolhouse Rocks numbers, it’s the best song about America.

Where to start: Katherine Lee Bates- born in Falmouth Mass in 1859, the daughter of Congregationalist minister William Bates, who died young, Katherine moved with her mother, Cornelia, to Wellesley Mass where she would go to school, University, and then eventually back to teach English where she was a well respected professor and author. It was in 1893 that she took a Summer to teach out west in Colorado, and at the end of the term, decided to head up Pike’s Peak. Despite altitude sickness suffered by some in the group, Katherine saw ‘hardly more than one ecstatic gaze” but penned what would become America’s own hymn, if not national anthem…

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the enameled plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

Till souls wax fair as earth and air

And music-hearted sea!  

The “purple Mountain”- Pikes Peak in Colorado is why the Colorado Rockies wear Purple… that and it’s the color of suffering.

Now… as a hymn… I have it in over 500 hymnals. In 1968, it appeared in over 50% of all hymnals according to one study, and it is often sung as a hymn. As a national song, give me Ray Charles singing it over anything else. I tolerate the Francis Scott Key business while this anthem, Bates' words, and the melody- Samuel A. Ward’s “Materna”, is rousing.

As a hymn- well, there’s a possibly alarming lack of Jesus. Bates and her milieu were more comfortable in the world of the social gospel and common grace for all, and in that context, lines like the following are understandable:

O beautiful for patriot dream
that sees beyond the years
thine alabaster cities gleam,
undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.

And if we are doing basic civics, give me this line all day:

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

Till selfish gain no longer stain

The banner of the free!  

But, perhaps the next time you hear this remember the tune used for this song- it’s called “Materna”- because it was initially used for a different hymn- Samuel Ward wrote the music after a ferry ride around Coney Island for the old hymn- “Mother Jerusalem” hence it’s called “Materna” for mother and that old hymn reminds us: 

Jerusalem, my happy home,
O how I long for thee!
When will my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?

O happy harbor of the saints,
O sweet and pleasant soil!
In thee no sorrow may be found,
no grief, no care, no toil. 

And so it’s not our earthly homes or countries- as lovely and commendable as they might be- but rather the place Jesus has prepared for us is a new Jerusalem- a new heavens and earth… if you’re in the States- Happy 4th, if not- I’m glad to have the more sure and solid citizenship shared with you.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary, where I won’t read from Jeremiah but instead from Psalm 66- a good and proper hymn of praise:

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
    Sing the glory of his name;

    make his praise glorious.

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

    So great is your power

    that your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down to you;

    they sing praise to you,

    they sing the praises of your name.”

Come and see what God has done,

    his awesome deeds for mankind!

He turned the sea into dry land,

    they passed through the waters on foot—

    come, let us rejoice in him.

He rules forever by his power,
  
  his eyes watch the nations—

    let not the rebellious rise up against him.

Praise our God, all peoples,

    let the sound of his praise be heard;

he has preserved our lives

    and kept our feet from slipping.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 4th of July 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by the star-spangled Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man reminding you that with over 60 countries having gained independence from Britain, there is an independence celebration somewhere around the globe every 6 or 7 days- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true. Everything is going to be ok.